Bound Evil

Emily dove through the screen of fading smoke as all around her the charred remains of trees crackled with still-burning embers. The three Rime wolf pups were fastened to her back and harnessed with her belongings. Beside her, Alex ran keeping pace with her as they tried to escape their latest tail. The pack was not happy in the slightest and while the smoke prevented them from tracking them that didn’t stop them from running into the odd hunting party.

Emily was convinced they were trying to get back their young but when the road came into view she shouted for joy.

Then promptly turned and skidded to a halt. The two adult Rime wolves slowed to a canter and eyed their prey. They were well beyond the reaches of their territory and while they had already howled for reinforcements none had shown up.

Emily took another step back onto the paved road as though taunting them. When they didn’t advance beyond the treeline Emily blew the creatures a kiss. They were hesitant to follow this far out of the hunting grounds, even though their prey was so close.

The last thing Emily saw was their eyes glaring at them, as though memorizing their faces before slinking back into the shadows.

“Do you have to torment them?” Alex asked.

Emily shrugged.

“No, but we all played the game and we won. Plus I was just saying goodbye to the doggies.”

Alex maintained an easy jog with his own three charges tied to his chest. Even now they had to keep an eye on their surroundings.

The fires had burned till the late evening, and now last light was beginning to wash the canvas with tones of purples and reds.

Their rest was well-deserved but Alex only let them set down a camp when they were at least four hours out from the hunting ground.

Emily found three large trees beside the road that she then latched their newest tent to. Lowering the thick fabric walls between the tunks. The wind outside caused them to flap as Alex tried to get a small fire started.

Emily unrolled her small blanket and unfasted her bag causing the three pups to sleepily tumble out.

Emily's heart was once more stolen at the sight of the young pups. Bringing them closer to her chest she realized they couldn’t be more than a week old.

“What do they eat, can I give them some of our dried meat”

Alex looked over shaking his head.

“They’re too young. Rime wolves are omnivorous but these pups won’t last long without their mother's milk.”

Emily hummed as one of the pups, with flecks of brown and white, began gnawing on her thumb with razor-sharp fangs.

“So there’s nothing we can give them?”

“The wandering fangs will have what they need, but that just means we need to get there quickly. Which reminds me we need to talk about what will happen when we get there.”

Emily looked up from the little cuties.

“Okay? What do you mean?”

“I need you to stay outside with the pups while I go in and inform them of what happening.”

Emily squinted at Alex.

“Why…”

“Well, for one, bringing in these beasts—even if they are pups right now—requires permits. And I have a feeling they would prefer to do this off the books. But more importantly, we don’t know how the Spyglasses will react to your title. I’ve never heard of it, and trust me, I know quite a few titles. I’ll need to check with an Archivist.”

Emily didn’t glance up from the snow-white pup as it nuzzled its face into her thigh.

“...Alright, that makes sense. Just be quick, if I hear you got a nice warm bath while I was freezing my tits off out here I’m coming in regardless.”

Alex shot her a dry look.

Emily wasn’t worried about separating at this point. Alex needs these animals to complete their transaction. The real issue was whether he would be in any danger. Luckily the one thing Emily was confident of was the fact that Alex was pretty fast.

“There’s one more thing…” Alex said as though he were unsure of how to proceed.

Emily made a looping motion with her finger for him to go on.

“...I’m fairly certain I’ve reached rank twenty-five…”

Emily looked up from the pups in her lap for the first time.

“You’re going to change your title?”

“It has to be tonight, it's the only chance I’ll get.”

Emily got what he meant, after the last couple of days, not sleeping wasn’t an option. As far as she understood he would only be able to change his active title tonight anyway.

“Okay then I’ll take the first watch”

Alex nodded and moved his three pups over to Emily as he bunkered down and fell asleep in seconds.

At the same time, Emily took out one of their lightweight rations. She cracked the waxy outer layer and pulled back the thin cloth protecting it. The first time Alex had handed her one of these things she had been unsure about them. The texture was similar to a gooey granola bar with seeds and honey, but the flavor was amazing. Similar to a fruit cocktail with a hint of banana. Even better, there were different flavors. Her current one zinged on her tongue as sweet and sour granadilla danced over her taste buds. The pups sniffed the air curiously but they seemed to lose interest as they began to try and riggle free.

Emily spent the rest of her watch keeping them busy as they were most active near the night hours.

When Emily went to wake Alex again he took longer than normal to wake. It was only after the second call that the man bolted up blinking away the sleep.

“I’m about to crash, you get anything good?”

Alex panted as he focused on her. Shaking his head, Emily assumed as much, before pushing the pups over to him and collapsing into her own bundles.

When she closed her eyes the stars rushed around her as they moved into positions.

‘14 - second threshold released at rank 25’

Skill threshold released at rank 18

Active slot: Scarlet sister - access to the Scarlet sister skill tree, along with the Blood Mage skill tree.

Increased learning speed when consuming blood, this is further increased if the blood is given willingly. Increased learning speed when studying blood wards.

Passive slot: Explorer - Increased learning speed when engaged with new environments.

Passive slot: Performer - Increased learning speed when studying others—replication based on understanding.

Everything looked in order as Emily sunk past the stars into slumber. She was happy with her rate of growth as it seemed to have accelerated. Her best bet was that it had to do with the consuming bloodline. She had been a bit worried the title would have her drinking from chalices and swirling the stuff like red wind but it seemed the life force counted towards her growth. Emily was satisfied as sleep took her.

What felt like seconds later Alex was shaking her awake.

Emily complained the entire while but they eventually got the camp packed and pups divided up.

When they stepped out of the tent she’d found something strange about the area but wasn’t able to put her finger on it. Normally she wouldn’t have noticed it but Explorer had gone off. After looking around all she could make out was that the snow had been heavy last night. Warning Alex, they both had a look but neither could tell what was out of place.

The rest of the journey was fairly peaceful. They never went out of their way to hunt down the elven ambushes, though they still found themselves in a few of them. Emily managed to score about eight blood bullets worth of vitality and all too soon the familiar dome of red brick came into view.

They moved slightly off the road when Emily set up the tent once more, but this time Alex left a majority of his gear there. Taking only the bear necessities.

“Hopefully I’ll be back before nightfall, If I’m not you need to be careful and check the perimeter regularly. Being this close to the city will help but keep an eye out.”

Emily rolled her eyes.

“Go on Alexander. The faster you get back the quicker I can have a bath.”

Alex nodded and began to leave but paused at the edge of the camp. Turning around he looked at her.

“Runesaber…”

Confusion worked its way onto Emily’s face.

“Last night you asked me if I got any good titles… That’s the one I chose.”

Emily flinched and tried to understand what was happening right now. She waited for Alex to go on but he didn’t seem to want to elaborate. Instead, he turned and continued out of the camp without turning back. Emily stood there for a while until the mewling of the pups caught her attention.

Making her way back into the warm tent Emily rummaged through her bundle to find her rations. She’d been caving another of those waxy delights, but when she looked she saw she only had two different flavors remaining. Pouting she wanted to try a different flavor. That’s when she glanced over to Alex's bundle. He’d left his rations here for her in case. So opening the pack she rummaged through it until she found what looked like a new flavor, but just as she pulled the bar out it caught on something.

The sound of clinking metal dropped onto the blankets beside her. As Emily took a closer look she recognized the bracelet Alex had bought with the dagger.

Pursing her lips Emily picked it up.

She was once more struck with how beautiful the simple piece of jewelry was. It had a small clasp one could use to affix it to one's wrist.

Turing it over Emily watched the light reflect off the gems laid in the face of the thing. With her hands beginning to shake Emily shoved the bracelet back into Alex’s bag. Scratching her head Emily tried to push his actions from her mind. Opening her book on blood magic turned out to be the perfect distraction as she tried to parse out what all these different symbols meant. Hours passed like this as the night continued to approach. Around dusk, the pups got restless and wouldn’t stop yipping until Emily gave them her full attention. They were hungry but Emily didn’t have anything for them.

Deciding that some fresh air would do them all some good Emily picked them all up and stepped out of the tent. Finding a nice dry patch of nettles to sit down in.

She was only out in the open for a short while when she felt it.

Her blood was approaching, only not in the direction she expected. From directly behind them leaves crunched underfoot.

Emily stood immediately, glancing about for her weapon. She’d left it in the tent.

Alex would have called himself out if he had looped around but that wouldn’t make sense. So there was only one other culprit that had her blood on them.

Two large eyes watch Emily from the shadows, the fading light reflecting off their brown irises.

The she-wolf slowly stepped into the clearing, watching her.

Emily’s eyes glanced about the treeline for more Rime wolves. They were right up against the large expanse of open land near the keep. If she made a break for it, the guards inside might be able to lend aid.

The longer the silence stretched between them the tighter Emily wound her muscles, ready to react at a moment's notice.

What she didn’t account for was the pups making a break for it. Or in this case, they waddled out of the confines of their blanket prison in the direction of the she-wolf. Against Emily's expectation, the she-wolf stepped more into the light as well. Her ears pressed back against her head as she lowered herself to a seated position.

Emily couldn’t make heads or tails of its actions but when she didn’t see any moment in the surrounding area she realized the wolf was alone.

On closer inspection, she could make out a new wound on its left ear as though something had tried to rip it off. The scene around their camp suddenly made more sense, they were being followed and neither of them had realized.

Blood points: 25